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2 MINUTE WARNING

WITH DOUG JOHNSON

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476 The Choice

Growing up in the Presbyterian church, I seemed to offend people with one comment.  I told those who asked me that I was NOT a Presbyterian, but a follower of Jesus.

That ruffled feathers … some even in my own family.

But I have never been more convicted on this very topic.

I want to preface what I write today to say that I am absolutely not against the church, any church.  I have no agenda against religion as I believe that it has benefited our communities greatly.

But my allegiance is to Jesus … and Jesus alone.  If that fits in to a church—great.  And if it doesn’t, so be it.

John has done a great deal to influence this — or should I say God’s influence on John has influenced this.  I do not believe that John could have written his incredible literary masterpiece without the help of God alone.

And so I say today … Jesus alone.

This conviction does not belong to an individual church … or religion.  After writing books in the New Testament, John was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching about Jesus and the word of God.  On Patmos, John had some incredibly hard to understand visions but continued to preach the same message.  In the book Revelation, he claims he was convicted by God to write this:

Revelation 3 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.  

This is a strange statement to me … but it implies that God has given us the choice.  And that choice is to receive Him or to not receive Him.

It doesn’t say become a Presbyterian, or a Catholic, or a Lutheran, or a Methodist, or really, ANY other religion.  In fact, John tells us in John 1 that

John 1 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

To THOSE who received Him.

To read those words is to realize … we have a choice.

Because Jesus’ life was not political … as a politician, he failed miserably (thank God).  He successfully drove away BOTH SIDES.

His life wasn’t a military pursuit.  But He drove back soldiers at the temple and stood up for the broken—no matter what the law might have been.

He could not be put in the religious category—after all, He was driven out of the synagogue and crucified for claiming to be God.  After His execution and stories of His resurrection, the church not only disliked His followers, they pursued them, imprisoned them, and killed them.  Saul lead the charge.  And only after an encounter on the road into Syria did he change his mind and become a follower.  The greatest champion of the new testament tried to squash out the followers of Jesus.  And then … he changed teams.

Jesus could not be put in the category of rich.  He had nothing but the clothes on His back at His execution.

He could not be put in the category of powerful.  He chose not to push anyone back NOR force anyone to follow.

So what can we say?

In one of the most difficult texts to understand, He meets a religious leader at night:

John 3 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night.  3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ” 

He tells all of us:

John 3 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

After saying that He was “Jacob’s ladder”, that anyone who wanted to follow Him must “eat His flesh and drink His blood”, and after claiming that HE was the living water, He then declared:

John 10 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.

These are not the words of a prophet.  They aren’t the words of a nice guy.  These are the words of a lunatic, or a liar, or a man telling the truth.

But that being said, they are words that are worth reading.

I don’t think Jesus was crazy.

I don’t think that He was a liar.

I don’t think that He didn’t know what He was doing.

I think that Jesus knows exactly who He is … and exactly who we are.

I think Jesus loves Muslims, and atheists, and political leaders, and army generals, and prostitutes, and corporate raiders, and homeless addicts.

And, if I am reading His gospels correctly, I think that He is giving EVERYONE the same choice.

CHOOSE HIM

or 

REJECT HIM

But, as He said, “weigh the cost”.  It’s the most financial decision that you will ever make.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

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471 The Mountain In Front Of Us

If you are like me, you have some decisions in front of you that are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT.

This is not a heavy word.  It is an encouragement.

To remind you … “What You Have To Gain Is FAR GREATER Than What You Have To Lose”

So as you walk into the mountain in front of you … I have 4 pieces of advise.

1.  Decide To Be Great … (Not Your Position, Your Posture)

As the disciples jostled for position in a very unbalanced time, Jesus reminded them what being great truly was.

Mark 10 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

2.  Pick A Team (Loyalty Means Everything)

Our God is not a neutral decision.  I know which side I am declaring … and Joshua showed us how to do it.

Joshua 24 14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord . 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord .” 16 Then the people answered, “Fa

3.  Love Your Enemies (YOU Are The Lion!)

As I reminded one of my athletes this past spring — YOU are the lion.  Often we see lions showing themselves in the middle of the plain … and the animals scatter.  As we approach the mountain, we must remember that WE are the lion — not the scattering zebras.  And as a member of the winning team, it should never burden us to pray for, and love, our enemies.

Matthew 5 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …

4.  Remember Who You Belong To (My Father Loves Me!)

Probably our most important verse in the entire Bible … our belonging to God and His love of us.  This is exemplified in in Zephaniah and we would do well to plant this verse on our hearts.

Zephaniah 3 17 The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

So go forward to the mountain.

And climb with Faith, Hope, and Alacrity.

To Him Be The Glory And The Kingdom And The Power … For Ever And Ever.

Amen.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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470 God Does Not Manipulate Or Shame

As I was talking to Angie this morning, she said something that convicted me so much.  I thought that I would share it.

In reference to something that we were conversing about, she said:

“God Does Not Manipulate Or Shame”

That’s a good word.

Sometimes we don’t know what God is leading us to.

Sometimes the decisions in front of us can stall us out and we are not sure of the direction where we should go.

And sometimes we need to start by eliminating.  And her phrase to me was a GREAT place to start:

“God Does Not Manipulate Or Shame”

As you go through your day and make decisions, you can count on those words.

Romans 8 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 

And Paul tells us this in Romans 8 because he is being true to the gospel of Jesus, and says so in Romans 8.  “God Does Not Manipulate Or Shame”

Although I hear those words, I am always in need of a reminder.

And chances are … so do you.

God is so good.

And so patient.

And so ready to forgive.

Let’s celebrate Him and the fact that nothing can undo or distort what Jesus did.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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469 Build Your House On Solid Rock

The sandstone at Lake Powell is an amazing and beautiful picture of the absolutely awe-inspiring creation of God.

But it is an incredible testimony to what Jesus said in Matthew 7.

Matthew 7 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 

25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

In the time that we have docked our boat this week, rocks have been covered and they quickly erode into the water and fall away.  Even some of the ground that is walked on goes from stone to sand in the snap of a finger.

Why does no one have a house on the edge of this incredible body of water?  Simple answer.  The sandstone.  The foundation could be gone as quickly as the rising and falling water.  What looks to be stable and solid is simply able to fall and sink into the water so quickly that it is absolutely humbling.

And so it is with each of us … AND … with all of us.  

For each of us is it true as we, as individuals, must stay in alignment with the rocks of where we go and what we do and what we think and who we are … without these rocks we can lose our footing so quickly.

For all of us it is much the same.  In our groups both great and small it is easy to divide the group if we are not following the principles that will unite us.

Jesus modeled this in every way.

He modeled our individual situations as well as our group ones.

He modeled our lives in celebration and in absolute sorrow.

He modeled how to react and how to stay silent.

This is no easy word.

The storms of life can so easily sway us and knock us off course.

And finding the truth in the daily life can be difficult.

The truth, however, in the big things, is in your Bible, and your spirit connected to God, and in the counsel of a friend who will tell you the truth and not “support you just to steer free of the conflict”.

Build your house on solid ground.

Jesus is solid.  He is the rock.  He is the Living Water.  He is the Ladder that connects heaven to earth.  And He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

You can’t pick a better foundation.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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466 In The Blink Of An Eye

Anyone who is celebrating graduation today understands how fast it truly goes … 

1 Corinthians 15 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 

We understand that life is before us … and then an era ends.  The door closes and can never be opened again.  And it ends so suddenly.

If this stings you, I want to convict you that this … is the what many call “the curse of Adam”.  We can define that in so many ways, but it is the true nature of what we live in when we are frustrated.  This curse makes work difficult, it makes marriage difficult, it makes parenting difficult, it makes dying and even birth difficult.  It is the ugly side of the coin and never to be confused with “how can a loving God do that to us?”.  It is not a loving God who turned His back on us … it was our penchant to choose and truly lives in the fact that we turned our backs on a loving God.

And, the enemy stirs up in us the desire to blame someone else, to which I would reply:  

Do not think that you didn’t do the same thing!  You too turned your back on God and wanted to do things of your own accord.  It is the reality of every man but one.

But God.

But God has given us an option.  And it is the only deal we’re going to get.  It is the offer of Jesus.  And the Jesus offer is the deal of the millennium.  It is the hope of all men.

Take it.

As Jesus told His disciples:  Follow Me.

Take that deal.  Follow Him.

He … is worthy of our surrender

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

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464 The Biggest Lie Of This Age

I am shocked at the new movement that calls out the “hatred” in Christians.  

  • It attacks purity
  • It mocks obedience
  • It calls love hate and hate love
  • It is anti family and anti marriage

It is a shocking display of claiming to be the victim while acting as a perpetrator.

But it will never work.

Surrendering to Jesus is not a prison.  It is the release from that prison.

Surrendering to Jesus is not slavery.  It is the release into freedom.

Surrendering to Jesus is not without rules and convictions and structure.  But those are the very things that protect us.

We are God’s children.

Created in His image.

Living out a call that is so genuinely freeing that it is like winning the lottery.

Matthew 8 1 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 

 

Love … IS Jesus.

And this love will make us desire to make no demands of Him because we will want to follow.

He loves us in a way that no one can and releases us into a freedom that can never be substituted for a false narrative or a half truth.

It is the greatest love in the universe and the only hope for our survival.

This love is not to be taken for granted or perverted.

It is not to be changed or manipulated.

It is not to be distorted or compromised.

On the cross, on Calvary, 2000 years ago, He took the nails so that He could defeat the accuser of all mankind.  His accusations, his lies, and his hideous agenda will all be turned back upon him.  And there will be a day when he shames you no more.  The lion of the tribe of Judah guards his brethren … and He never forsakes them.

Don’t undersell or undervalue this love.

It is your only hope.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

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463 A Game You Can Never Win

Since 1993, I have had the pleasure of dealing cards at After Prom, the all night event at the school to give our kids something to do that can add to their prom experience.

It isn’t perfect, but it is amazing.  And it is something that is very fun to be a part of.

As a Blackjack dealer I have a great view of how the game works.  Though some students stack and win and restack and can break the bank, they don’t realize that even this move is impossible in a real casino.  They put a min and a max on each table with the numbers in mind.  In order to win a lot, they have set up the table so that you have to lose a lot.  No one can win and restack because they simply won’t allow it.

And the rest of the time?  It is a bludgeoning.  As the dealer, I deal and hit hands that break them and then square off against the survivors.  They win half of those encounters and I slowly move around the table and collect the money.

It is a “A Game You Can Never Win”.

Viewing his life, I have to wonder if this very thought went to the mind of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.

Luke 15 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 

Sometimes we rebel because we are just wild.  And sometimes we do it so that we can get that BIG WIN.  And in doing so, we devalue our very being and squander our lives.

The perspective that “we can never win” is a real one.  The enemy has us trapped in a world where our future is painted in gloom.

No amount of money or fame or success or luck will change it.  Our future is sealed.  And all of us can see it.

But with Jesus?

We have the greatest future we could ever dream of.

Our lack of understanding does not change the reality of heaven:

  • Heaven will make this world the “dream state”.  It will be more real than anything that we see here.
  • Our senses will be heightened … tastes and smells … beauty … music … love … nothing will be comparable.
  • The government?  It will be ruled by the Savior of our soul and He will rule without rival or question — not because He is all powerful, but because He would be elected even if we did vote.
  • Money, Fame, Victory … all of these will be given to us in the highest measure–and yet no one will be on the losing side of them.

These things are known by Don Piper, who died and spent forty five minutes in the kingdom, only to return and tell his wife and kids that he “wished he was dead”.

Although I am glad that I have not told those I love that, I have to think that Don Piper experienced just a taste of what God has prepared for those who love Him.  

Do not entertain the thought that you are playing a game that you can’t win.  This is not how God has called you to live.

He also has not called you to live on the other side of that, conquering and winning in every arena … that leads to the same outcome.

The enemy has a plan for our lives.  And it is easy to get sucked into it.  His realm is a place where sons take inheritances while other sons sit at home bitter.  It is a place where living beneath ourselves is encouraged and then condemned.  It is a place where friends disappear when the money is gone and loyalty is replaced by comradery and an “us against them” mentality.

Let’s purpose not to do it.

It is a game we can never win.

Jesus said that He was the Way and the Truth and the Life.  Let’s do that.  It puts the ownership of winning on Him.

And He only loses when it redeems those He loves.

That’s a King I can follow.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

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461 Seeing It Before It Is

When an NFL player hits a crisis, it must be very hard to pull out of it.  The quarterback, in particular, is in the eye of the storm.  Surrounded by hostile grown men whose primary purpose is to bring pressure and physicality, the quarterback must face the hurricane and deliver in the biggest moments.

CJ Stroud is the new generation of men who “walk into the lions den”.  And he seems to know who he is and who he belongs to.  In every interview that I have seen, he thanks God through Jesus and plays for something bigger.  Bless him for representing.

The reason he is in those interviews, in my opinion, is that he has adopted another character trait that Jesus recommends:

“Seeing It Before It Is”

Some would call it Faith.  I call it FAITH AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.

And Jesus knew this faith and taught this faith.

Matthew 16 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Jesus saw Peter.

He saw the plans of the enemy.

He saw the sins of men.

He saw the future.

Jesus chose Peter to build the church before he was worthy to be even a member.

And He sees what lies in front of you.

That’s a leader that makes the best NFL quarterback look like a Pop Warner back up.

And it is who we should be following as we navigate a rocky future.  Jesus Sees It Before It Is … He is worthy of my devotion and surrender.  He is the Christ … the Son of the Living God.  All praise and honor and worship to the God who loves us too much to let us go.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J

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459 You Belong To Something Bigger

As I watched college basketball last night, I saw a commercial that convicted me.  Mike Krzyzewski said:

“You Belong To Something Bigger”

How prophetic.

I think that is the theme today.  “You Belong To Something Bigger”

We are sometimes trapped in a rat race that never ends.

We strive to complete our daily tasks and make our daily wage.

We chase after a security that will never come.

We desire to be immortal only to discover that we are brittle and broken.

Take a minute today and rest in the fact that “You Belong To Something Bigger”.  You belong to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  

This Jesus, the Jesus who carried His own cross to the hill on Calvary, He did it for you.

This Jesus, the Jesus who forgave the broken, He did it for you.

This Jesus, the Jesus who challenged the privileged in front of the broken, He did it for you.

And it was this Jesus who gave us these words:  “In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart … I have overcome the world.”

Not long after this, He was betrayed, abandoned, brought before a mockery of a trial, beaten, sentenced, and executed as His clothes were gambled over by two Roman soldiers.  It was hardly the “overcome the world” that we wanted to see.  But it was the only thing that could possibly save us.

And He made it possible … So that we could Belong To Something Bigger.

As you read this verse today:

Revelation 19 11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Remember:  this was written by John after an ugly exile to Patmos.  It wasn’t the ending that he wanted for his life.

But he belonged to something bigger.

Bow before the Father today.

Commit your life to Him.

Let go of your thoughts and your theories and your vision for the way that you think life ought to be … and begin to press into what it truly is … a broken world that could never be right on its own accord, with people who could never be right on their own accord, ruled over by a God who made it right on His own accord.

Thank God that …

You Belong To Something Bigger

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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